The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-03-23

table until the anneahng oven j. nlled,
when it is closed and slowly cooled for
five days Taken from the oven the
+ plates are ground smooth with sand and
water and afterward with emery paper.
They are then polished with powder Of
red oxide Of iron, under considerable
pressure, This work Of grinding and
polishing Is done by machinery, by means
Of which a most brilliant surface j. read
lis secured.-C Chio5go H.te--Ooru.
Cameo Cutting.
The substance Of which a modern cameo
Is made is q piece Of sea she'll Every one
must have noticed that. while the outside
+ Of many shells is rough and unseemly, the
inter- II Is perfectly polished and often Of
a brilliant color. Ifthe she'll be broken
the way in which the two layers lie upon
and pass into each other may be clearly
seen. The species used by the trade will
be described farther on. but We may here
premise that they are chosen on account
Of the thickness and hardness Of the lay
+ ers. of the contrast Of color between them
and the presence Of knobs On the exterior
surface. which renders it possible TO work
( in relief
When a cameo is begun, says the Lon
don Saturday Reasr, piece Of the shell,
. rather larger than the ornament Is intend
ell "a be-. Is cut out and affixed TO wood
en holder by means of a substance which
looks ike coarse kind of sealing wax
and seems b the touch a. firm as stone,
but at once Yields 10 any high degree Of
heat. The inner surface Of tine shell Is Of
course the lowest. and Oh the gray out
side the master draw, a rough outline Of
the design and places the work in the
hands of AN apprentice. who reduces the
knob by means of a file to the requisite
heighth. and with the same instrument
removes ail the gray matter that lies out
side the boundary lines and dresses the
whole of the irregular surface. In this
condition a cameo looks ike an irregular
piece Of chalk rising ont Of "a small plate
Of colored glass. II is nov returned TO
the master. VIII, again draws the design
IN pencil upon IL. hut more carefully this
time. as the places In which the dark
background BIAS tu Doe seen through the
white mass ml.t ue Indicated and from
him 10 pa--,.- J1 another apprentice OF
workman. who has already learned the
Use Of the buliuo or BURN. This isan IN
~trument which is Al present in at least
twenty forms In every workshop Of I'M.
portance-the c0ar-er almost resembling
4. -touecutter'S tool the finer are nearly
ID, delicate as those used by an eHgrIyer.
Thus. from the beginning totthe end, the
work is always submitted 10 the masters
eye and always passes into more skillful
hands until he himself adds the finish
ing touches.
Il has OF late years become the fashion
! 20 have cameo portraits taken. This form
Of art l. chiefly pa,ronized b5 the Amer
leans. When such a portrait /, made the
whole work except the mere filing down,
is usually done by the masters own hand.
The Likeness may be taken from photo
graph, but the cameo cutter greatly pre-
ters "a study from lie. A. a rule he de-
mandS three sittings of about quarter of
an hour each. IN the first he makes a
general outline OF the face; in the second
be adds dignity, loveliness and expires
sion: in the third he adds or corrects de-
tails 1t must be confessed that these
. likenesses are often striking, always clever
and generally abominable. All the re-
+ source. Of the masters art somehow fail
to make brother Jonathan look like
Greek nero. and a. the cutter has some
classical hero always in his mind, his
work j. apt to become an unconscious
satire. We speak of brother Jonathan,
but must confess that John Bull and his
wife are not free from the same vanity.
The British matrou considers such por-
traits exquisite; they are for her the cri-
tcrion Of all art. the ne plus ultra Of truth
and beauty. the tombstone 10y which TO
test good taste. but We cannot defer to
her opinion.
The great fault Of most modern canoes
Is an excessive fondnesS for detail. The
more labor that Is spent upon % piece the
more valuable it becomes. Besides this,
the master takes a pleasure in the eNer-
Else 1f hi- skill; he l. proud OF showing
hir work through lens and pointing out
the Hucues- of the single lines and the
perfection of the whole execution. This
exactly suits the taste of many of his best
. customers, and 50 the general purpose OF
a design is often hidden under the crowd
4 of m mute felicities. Ii is because the
NeapoIiJan workmen are comparatively
free from this fault TIA, thair work ranks
SO highly as it does, but even iney fall
INTO it I'd, times, especially in their por-
traits, the cheapest Of which are usually
also the best.
The shells used by the cameo cutter
are of three kinds The most valuable,
C1s,s r'L.r,sq, is known in tine trade as
CoscLig'j0 epat5a. when the she'll i
perfect the external layer is of spotless
white. while the lower one seems at the
first glance to be black II Is, in fact, ola
dark gray tint, something ike unpublished
steel with brown reflections But such
/ specimens are exceedingly rare, aS much
4 a. twenty-five francs being sometimes
4 paid for a single one In imperfect ex-
ample, the white layer Is either too thin
or is spoiled by yellowish spots, while the
I black one is wanting in thickness and
hardness These shells are bought 10y
the hundred at the price of from six to
eight hundred francs. About third Of
the numbersare worthless while only
single parts Of many of the rest can be
used, and then only for inferior articles
-CorabH W1ga-iHe
Good Cider Vinegar.
...1 - L.. a., ~, a., M. l.. Ill.